This Thursday, September 4th, please join us at the grand opening of the Southern California headquarters.   

Meet campaign staff and fellow supporters in the area, and learn how
you can make a difference in the last 62 days of this campaign by
volunteering to canvass, register, and bring new voices into the
political process.

Here are the details:   

   Hope to see you there,

   Mitchell

Mitchell Schwartz
California State Director
Obama for America

P.S. — One of the best ways you can help build this movement is by
making weekend trips to Nevada through the Drive for Change program.
You’ll work with staff and volunteers to contact voters there and
spread Barack’s message of change.

Learn more and sign up for the first Drive for Change in Nevada next weekend, September 12th - 14th.

Last week at the DNC, iconoclastic artist David Choe, whose groundbreaking work from murals to sculpture to t-shirts to graphic novels defies easy classification, was a featured exhibitor at the Manifest Hope Gallery.  He’s interviewed in the video below:

Actor Daniel Dae Kim dropped by the exhibition and was also interviewed:

This year, Asian Americans have an unprecedented opportunity to make a
difference in the election.  With only two months left, we must act now
to mobilize our community elect Sen. Obama and make an impact that the
whole country will notice.

If Asian Americans are to make a difference, we must show up.  You
can help make sure our community shows up by doing the following today:

1. Building our Facebook group:  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2220476126

We need to utilize our networks to build this group up as large as
possible.  Join the group, invite your friends, and encourage them to
do the same.

2. Building our MyBarackObama group:  http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/AsianAmericansforObama

This is our primary e-mail list.  Please join our list and
encourage your friends to do so as well.  The campaign pays attention
to these numbers, and we can make a big splash by boosting our
membership.

I have to admit that after the amazing speeches and powerful emotional moments of Day 3 from the roll call vote to the video tribute to veterans, I was a little worried that Day 4 would end up being a disappointment.  Sen. Obama is a powerful, enthralling speaker, but I fretted that even his singular talents wouldn’t be enough to make the last day everything I hoped and dreamed.

Fortunately, I was wrong.

I’m not even going to attempt to describe Sen. Obama’s speech other than to say it was pitch perfect, hitting every note correctly - answering the criticisms, dispelling the misconceptions, laying out the specifics of his proposals, defining his opponent, challenging the other side to an honorable campaign, all without sacrificing one bit of the eloquence and inspiration for which he is known.  Otherwise, I will let Sen. Obama speak for himself - you can watch his speech in my post below.

But not only was I wrong that Sen. Obama himself was not up to the task of making the last day the climax that it needed to be, I was wrong that the rest of the program as well.  Speaker after speaker and performer after performer impressed.  And the sheer atmosphere of 84,000 Americans cheering, crying, and, above all, hoping for the change we so desparately need in this country truly did make this day different and remarkable.  This was the people’s convention, the open convention - from the unprecedented access and participation to the open air of the stadium.

Read the rest of this entry »

So much happened on Day 3 that it’s going to be tough to keep this recap reasonable in length.  In terms of official convention business, the main event was the official nomination of Sen. Barack Obama.  Since the primary season ended in early June, Sen. Obama has been the presumptive Democratic nominee as he won the majority of pledged delegates in the various primaries and caucuses, and he had enough pledged superdelegates to capture a majority of the total delegates at stake.  However, until the delegates cast their ballots at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, the nomination wasn’t official.  In a dramatic, though not unexpected, gesture for unity, Sen. Clinton interrupted the traditional roll call vote of each state’s delegates to move to suspend the rules and confirm Sen. Obama’s nomination by acclaimation (voice vote).  The emotional impact on the convention was palpable; you can hear my live play by play of the events in my post below.  As a young person, it’s easy to forget just how unbelievably momentous Sen. Obama’s candidacy is; during the roll call vote, Bertha Means, an 88 year old African American delegate from my Senate District in Austin, sobbed uncontrollably for over 15 minutes as the votes for Sen. Obama were being called out.  She understood the history, the improbability of the moment.

My day began with the AAPI Caucus meeting, where Maya, Konrad, and several AAPI political figures spoke to the AAPI delegates and guests about voter registration and outreach for the critical remaining weeks of the election.  Celebrities Kelly Hu and Tamlyn Tomita also made appearances.  I also got to meet Georgia McCauley, Barack and Maya’s hanai mother (a Native Hawaiian adoption tradition comparable to being a godparent, but with even deeper implications) and the Chair of Democrats Abroad Philippines.  Georgia reminded the audience that US citizens living abroad can vote in the presidential election, and it’s important for us to reach out to our friends, family, and colleagues abroad to vote for Sen. Obama. Read the rest of this entry »

Listen to Ramey Ko share his thoughts on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver as he heads to the airport to fly home to Austin.

I have just one thing to say to John McCain:

How are you going to top this?

Barack’s Moving Bio Video:

The Acceptance Speech:

For text of full remarks as prepared for delivery, go below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have just one thing to say to John McCain:

How are you going to top this?

Barack’s Moving Bio Video:

The Acceptance Speech:

For text of full remarks as prepared for delivery, go below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Listen to this live report from Invesco Field on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.